Megillot III Kohelet vi Youth, Old Age, & Epilogues

Apropos the fact that rain on Sukkot is an indication of divine rebuke, the Gemara cites several related topics.

The Sages taught: When the sun is eclipsed [lit. לוקה/lokah/"is struck"] it is a bad omen for the entire world.

The Gemara tells a parable. To what is this matter comparable? It is comparable to a king of flesh and blood who prepared a feast for his servants and placed a lantern [panas] before them to illuminate the hall. He became angry at them and said to his servant: Take the lantern from before them and seat them in darkness.

(1) So appreciate your vigor in the days of your youth, before those days of sorrow come and those years arrive of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; (2) before sun and light and moon and stars grow dark, and the clouds come back again after the rain:

12:1, NJPS alternative translation: Remember thy Creator...

James Crenshaw

12:1 And remember your wife...

(3) When the guards of the house become shaky,
And the men of valor are bent,
And the maids that grind, grown few, are idle,
And the ladies that peer through the windows grow dim, (4) And the doors to the street are shut—
With the noise of the hand mill growing fainter,
And the song of the bird growing feebler,
And all the strains of music dying down; (5) When one is afraid of heights
And there is terror on the road.—
For the almond tree may blossom,
The grasshopper be burdened,
And the caper bush may bud again;
But man sets out for his eternal abode,
With mourners all around in the street.— (6) Before the silver cord snaps
And the golden bowl crashes,
The jar is shattered at the spring,
And the jug is smashed at the cistern. (7) And the dust returns to the ground
As it was,
And the lifebreath returns to God
Who bestowed it. (8) Utter futility—said Koheleth—
All is futile!

(9) A further word: Because Koheleth was a sage, he continued to instruct the people. He listened to and tested the soundness of many maxims. (10) Koheleth sought to discover useful sayings and recorded genuinely truthful sayings. (11) The sayings of the wise are like goads, like nails fixed in prodding sticks.They were given by one Shepherd.

(12) A further word: Against them, my son, be warned!
The making of many books is without limit
And much study is a wearying of the flesh. (13) The sum of the matter, when all is said and done: Revere God and observe His commandments! For this applies to all mankind: (14) that God will call every creature to account for everything unknown, be it good or bad.

When Kohelet is read in the synagogue, the second-to-last verse is repeated at the end:
The sum of the matter, when all is said and done: Revere God and observe His commandments! For this applies to all mankind.

(9) O youth, enjoy yourself while you are young! Let your heart lead you to enjoyment in the days of your youth. Follow the desires of your heart and the glances of your eyes—but know well that God will call you to account for all such things—

from the 3rd paragraph of the Shema, concerning tzitzit/the fringe.

(39) That shall be your fringe; look at it and recall all the commandments of ה' and observe them, so that you do not follow your heart and eyes in your lustful urge.

Rabbi Yose the son of Rabbi Abun said, also it is forbidden to dwell in a city which has no vegetable garden.

Rabbi Ḥizqiah and Rabbi Cohen [said] in the name of Rav: Every person will have to justify himself for everything his eye saw and which he did not eat. Rabbi Eleazar took note of this statement and saved coins from which he ate every kind [of vegetable and fruit] once a year.

(1) So appreciate your vigor [others “Remember thy Creator” or "Remember your wife"] in the days of your youth, before those days of sorrow come and those years arrive of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them.”

(1) Akabyah ben Mahalalel (active 20-40 c.e.) said: mark well three things and you will not come into the power of sin: know from where you come, and where you are going, and before whom you are destined to give an account and reckoning.

From where do you come? From a putrid drop. Where are you going? To a place of dust, of worm and of maggot. Before whom you are destined to give an account and reckoning? Before the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.

In another context we taught the following: “Aqabiah ben Mehallalel says, consider three things and you will not commit any transgression” (Avot 3:1).

Rabbi Abba ben Rav Pappaeus and Rabbi Joshua from Sikhnin [said] in the name of Rabbi Joshua ben Levi:

All three Aqabiah derived from the same verse: “Remember bor'ekha” [Kohelet 12:1]: beir'kha your fountain/source, bor'kha/your pit, bor'acha/your Creator. Your fountain, from where you came. Your pit, to where you are going. Your Creator, before Whom you will have to be accountable in the future.

(15) Drink water from your own cistern/mi-borekha,
Running water from your own well.

Including footnotes from NJPS translation in italics:

(3) When the guards of the housebI.e., the arms. become shaky,
And the men of valorcI.e., the legs. are bent,
And the maids that grind,dI.e., the teeth. grown few, are idle,
And the ladies that peer through the windowseI.e., the eyes. grow dim,

(13) The sum of the matter, when all is said and done: Revere God and observe His commandments! For this applies to all mankind:

(5) See, I have imparted to you laws and rules, as my God ה' has commanded me, for you to abide by in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. (6) Observe them faithfully, for that will be proof of your wisdom and discernment to other peoples, who on hearing of all these laws will say, “Surely, that great nation is a wise and discerning people.”

Since contradictions in Ecclesiastes were mentioned, the Gemara cites additional relevant sources. Rav Yehuda, son of Rav Shmuel bar Sheilat, said in the name of Rav: The Sages sought to suppress the book of Ecclesiastes and declare it apocryphal because its statements contradict each other and it is liable to confuse its readers. And why did they not suppress it? Because its beginning consists of matters of Torah and its end consists of matters of Torah.

The ostensibly contradictory details are secondary to the essence of the book, which is Torah. The Gemara elaborates: Its beginning consists of matters of Torah, as it is written: “What profit has man of all his labor which he labors under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:3), and the Sages of the school of Rabbi Yannai said: By inference: Under the sun is where man has no profit from his labor; however, before the sun, i.e., when engaged in the study of Torah, which preceded the sun, he does have profit.

Its ending consists of matters of Torah, as it is written: “The end of the matter, all having been heard: Fear God, and keep His mitzvot; for this is the whole man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). With regard to this verse, the Gemara asks: What is the meaning of the phrase: For this is the whole man? Rabbi Eliezer said: The entire world was only created for this person. Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: This person is equivalent to the entire world. Shimon ben Azzai says and some say that Shimon ben Zoma says: The entire world was only created as companion to this man, so that he will not be alone.